For this cozy, fall-themed DIY, I’m gonna show you how to make your very own faux-knitted scarf. I say “faux” because you’ll be using just your fingers to knit—no knitting needles! It’s super-simple to do, and the result looks totally rad.

What you’ll need:

Lots of yarn. Any kind, from medium to bulky weight, will work, but yarn described as superfine or lightweight is too thin. I went for a rainbow theme with my scarf, so I used yarn in a variety of colors, plus some white for clouds.

Scissors.

How to do it:

1. The base of the scarf will be made from of long finger-knitted “ropes.” Start off with a piece of yarn that’s still attached to the skein.

2. With your palm facing you, clasp one end of the yarn between your thumb and your index finger, as shown.

3. Wrap the yarn under your middle finger, over your ring finger, and under your pinkie. Bring it back over your pinkie, under your ring finger, over your middle finger, and under your index finger. Repeat the over/under wrapping process two more times, until you have what looks like two dashed lines of yarn across your fingers, like in photo 4 above.

4. Now it’s time to start knitting! Pull each loop from the bottom row of yarn (marked with pink dots in this photo) up and over the top row of yarn and your fingertips.

5. You’ll be left with just one row of yarn along the palm side of your fingers. Push these loops down your fingers a bit (as shown).

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4. Continue repeating those two steps until you have something that looks like the photo above.

If you kind of tug on the end a bit it’ll start to look more like a rope.

7. When your rope reaches the length you want it to be, finish the end off by weaving the tail into and out of the loops on your fingers. Then remove the yarn from your hand and tug the end again to tighten it up.

These are much shorter versions of what your finished ropes will look like. For reference, my finished ropes were about 60 inches long.

8. Pair off your ropes in whatever color combinations you like, such as red/orange, yellow/green, and blue/purple, and tie the loose ends together.

9. Using a crisscross pattern, lace each pair of ropes together with a piece of matching yarn.

Gently tug on the yarn as you go along to help close up the gap.

10. Once you’ve laced the entire thing up, tie the loose ends together and snip off the excess.

11. To make this scarf actually look like a scarf, you’ll need to lace all three of the rope pairs together, just like in the previous step. If you don’t want to bother with the lacing, you can braid the ropes together instead, or even just wear them as-is! It’s up to you.

To make and attach the pompoms:

1. Wrap some more yarn around your hand (or a small piece of cardboard) multiple times to create a bundle.

2. Lay that bundle on top of a length of yarn about three times longer than the length of the bundle (see photo 2 above).

3. Triple-tie that loose length of yarn around your bundle. Tie it tight! This will create a bunch of loops on either side of the knot.

4. Mark the ends of the yarn that you used to tie your bundle with a piece of tape or a marker so that you won’t get them confused with the rest of the yarn—you’re gonna need these strings in a minute.

5. Cut all of the loops open with your scissors and give the pompom a trim! Remember: Don’t cut the yarn that you marked in step 4! But otherwise, don’t be afraid to cut off a lot—pompoms usually look more pompom-y once you’ve cut away a good portion of the yarn.

6. Weave the strings that I told you not to snip through the ends of the scarf and tie them together to secure the pompoms in place.

And there you have it! Your super-cute new rainbow scarf is perfect for wearing on gloomy late fall days, wouldn’t you say? ♦

OH MY GOD do you guys even understand how amazingly perfect this is?!? I loooove it and must do this over Thanksgiving break… I used to fingerknit a lot when I was a little kid, but haven’t done so in forever– thank you for this!

Omg I’m so excited to see a project on fiber arts! I’m plotting a knitting revolution (haha) and I teach knitting to young kids and girls my own age too.. I teach finger knitting to the kids who don’t quite get actual knitting, and they all love it. I remember when I was 7 or 8 and learned how to finger knit, it’s just fun, goes by so fast, and builds self confidence when you have a finished product! It’s awesome that you have this post with a cute final project, too, because often when I teach, kids aren’t sure of what to make their SUPER long chains in to!! Currently, I’m trying to organize a ‘knitting revolution’, to get other teens knitting as I feel like it promotes everything I value the most- keeping jobs in America, self confidence, focus, and it’s a dying art form! I’m happy to say it’s catching on fast, so much that I’ve gotten a whole following of girls who knit in class or on the bus to sports games and such :P

Can’t wait to try this!! I’m going to a “Chrismukka” party where we are bringing homemade gifts and since I am a slow crocheter, this will be an awesome gift to make!! And the rainbow theme will be perfect. Great idea. Can’t wait to go to the craft store tomorrow to buy the supplies!!

I seen and had to try to make one I am now putting it together… Just had a bit of trouble choosing colors lol. I had to read the instructions a couple times but caught on right away. The pictures are always a great help. Thank You!

I can’t figure out how to pull it tighter or see if I’m actually doing it right. Do you have a video tutorial of this? It looks really cool and I really want to do it. It also looks like it should e simple but I’m having trouble. Help please!!

Yoo-hoo! August’s theme is GIVE AND TAKE, and we’d like to take into consideration whatever submissions you have to give about that! (Even/especially if they’re as cheesy as we just were.) Send pitches to submission@rookiemag.com. ✴

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